City Controller, Office of the

[Record group 94]

Alternative/Former Names

Auditing Department

Agency home page.

Agency Function

The Auditing Department, under the charge of the City Controller, has the power to perform the following functions: approval of disbursement requisitions, issue orders for the payment of money out of the treasury, audit the financial affairs of officers, departments, boards, commissions and other agencies receiving appropriations from the City; perform special audits of the affairs of any officer, department, commission or agency; and make recommendations to the various agencies of the City for the improved efficiency and economy of their operations involving the expenditure of City funds.

Agency History

The post of City Controller was created by the City-County Consolidation Act of February 2, 1854, to succeed the then abolished board of County Auditors. The Office was filled by popular election to a two-year term (extended to three years in 1885, and four years in 1909), and was charged with the normal comptrolling duties of examining and publishing the accounts of all City and County agencies and countersigning warrants for the disbursal of their funds. In 1857 the Controller was made a member of the board of Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, a post he still retains. Although designated a County officer by the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1874, the Controller was considered a City officer by several Acts of 1885 and his office recognized as one of the central departments of City government organized by the Bullitt Bill which was put into effect in 1887. The Controller's duties continued essentially unchanged by the City Charters of 1919 and 1951, although the latter did designate him a member of the Board of Pensions and Retirement. With the adoption of the Educational Home Rule Amendment to the City Charter in 1965 his function as controller of the Board of Education was transferred to an officer of that Board.

Archival Records

94.1 Annual Reports (1855-1862, 1864-1951, 1957-1965)

94.2 Appropriation Ledger (1854-1948, missing 1912)

94.3 Monthly Appropriation Ledgers (1854-1927)

94.4 Register of Warrants (1854-1857)

94.5 Trust Funds Appropriation Ledger (1857)

94.6 Departmental Estimates of Expenditures for Budget (1919)

94.7 Estimated Departmental Expenses (1857-1859)

94.8 General Ledger (1857-1927; missing 1863-1865)

94.9 Journal (1862-1919; missing 1898, 1902-1904, 1911)

94.10 General Journal (1911-1936)

94.11 Monthly Reports for General Journal Entries (1915-1942; missing 1917-1918)

94.12 Daily Statements, City Treasurer's Bank Deposits and Drafts (July - December 1885)

94.13 Endorsed Warrants Paid by City Treasurer (1857-1858)

94.14 Returns of Fees from City Offices to Treasurer (1858-1902, missing: 1883, 1889-1896, 1898-1901)

94.15 City Treasurer's Receipts and Expenditures (1859-1862)

94.16 City Treasurer's Payments of Warrants (1855-1858)

94.17 Appropriation Ledger, School Loan of 1864 (1865-1868)

94.18 Certificates of Loan (1857, 1863-1877)

94.19 City Loan Certificates Redeemed by Agent Bank (1895-1910; missing 1898-1899, 1902, 1906)

94.20 City Loan Certificates Issued and Transferred by Agent Bank (1859-1904; missing 1887-1903)

94.21 City Loan Certificates Issued, Reissued, Cancelled (1860-1915)

94.22 Ledger, Transfer and Division of City Loan Certificates (1863-1904)

94.23 Loans Record (1855-1858)

94.24 Issues of New Loan Certificates for Cancellations (1855)

94.25 Journal, Matured Loans Redeemed (1859-1884)

94.26 Sinking Fund Commissioners, Securities Purchased (1911-1916)

94.27 Loan Ledger, Sinking Fund Treasurer (1885-1891)

94.28 Loan Ledger, Sinking Fund Commission (1892-1919)

94.29 Register, Loans Held by Sinking Fund Commissioners (1877-1891)

94.30 Certificates of Various Loans of Sinking Fund (1885-1901)

94.31 Statement of City Dect at Consolidation (1854)

94.32 City Debt Register (1859-1884)

94.33 Instruments Register (1896-1922; missing 1902-1907)

94.34 Delinquent Tax Returns, Receiver of Taxes (1926-1927, 1929-1936)

94.35 Payroll, Department of Highways and Markets (1854-1857)

94.36 Payroll, Police Department (July - September 1854)

94.37 Payroll, Pennsylvania Nautical School Ship (1911)

94.38 Audits of Fees Received by City and County Offices (1889-1900, 1910-1929)

94.39 Report of Audit, Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company and Philadelphia Transportation Company (1916, 1921-1924, 1928, 1943-1944, 1947-1950)

94.40 Triennial Audit of the City Controller (1954, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1978)

94.41 Special Audits (1951, 1953-1957, 1961-1964, 1966, 1968, 1970-1987, 1989, 1993)

94.42 Audits of Departments (1949-present)

94.43 Analysis of Operations (1957-1960)

94.44 Manual of Accounting, Reporting, and Business Procedure (1917 )

94.45 Object of Expenditure Classification (1914, 1923)

94.46 Inventory, Bureau of City Property, Department of Public Works (31 August 1928)

94.47 Records Disposal File (1951-1952)

94.48 Reports and Publications (1940-1996)

94.49 Salaries and Claims Appropriation Ledger (1854-1856)

94.50 Sinking Funds General Balances (1878-1891)

94.51 Ledger, Special Appropriations at Consolidation (1854)

94.52 Licenses, Permits and Fees (1946)

94.53 Departmental Cash Receipt Ledger (1951-1952)

94.54 Auditors Record of Schedules of Bids and Contracts (1943-1948)

94.55 Firemen's Pension Fund of the City of Philadelphia (16 September 1952)

94.56 Record of Real Estate Bail (April 1947 - January 1950)

94.57 Audit, Philadelphia Gas Works Company (1936-1939)

94.58 Report on the Valuation of the Property of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company and Philadelphia Rural Transit Company Systems (25 February 1937)

94.59 Papers of City Controller Robert C. White (1936-1948)

94.60 Annual Budget Statements (1915)

Current Records

Unavailable

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Last updated on November 8, 2000